Christmas 2008...Tori's First Christmas

We celebrated Christmas Eve by opening gifts from us to our children. Then on Christmas morning we opened the gifts from Santa. Tori wasn't sure about what was happening, but she quickly got the hang of opening gifts. She wanted us to open every box immediately so she could play with the new toys. Here are a few photos.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends...This will be an exciting Christmas for us to celebrate as a family of five. It will be so fun to have a little one in the house again. That is sure to bring the magic of Christmas. We will be spending Christmas morning at home, then head to Charlotte, NC. We will return home and on the 27th head to Buffalo, NY. The weather has been rough there lately. Mike, Nick and Ashley will be driving and Tori and I will fly. We hope the roads stays clear for the drive.

Hope you all have a happy holiday season and good health in the new year! We look forward to seeing many of you while we are home.

Santa 2008

Well, we took Tori to see Santa Claus and no, she didn't smile! We had a feeling she wouldn't.

Sign Language

Tori has been communicating with us for months using sign language. She picked it up watching Baby Einstein First Signs. She uses some of it daily. I finally got some pictures of her using her sign language. She even used it at day care so her teacher started teaching the other children some sign language. I truly believe it helps her to cry less since she can tell us what she wants. Here are some pictures of her signing.

Eat

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Baby

Tori's Version of Daddy...She is suppose to be pointing her thumb to her head, but her version is much cuter...

Readoption Paperwork Has Been Filed!

On December 15th, Mike and I went down to the Fayetteville Courthouse and filed the necessary paperwork to readopt Tori in the US so she can have a North Carolina Birth Certificate and officially change her name to Victoria Nguyen Nagowski. It can take up to 90 days, but we are hoping it will come sooner. Then we will have to get her a new Certificate of Citzenship and a new social security card and passport showing her new official name.

We also sent off our first Adoption Report to Vietnam. As part of our adoption, we need to send bi-annual reports for the first three years and once a year after that until Tori is 18. It is an update of how Tori is doing including a few photos of her.

We Celebrated Six Months as a Family

Happy Anniversary to Us...Tori has been with our family for six months.

Today I filled out the paperwork to readopt Tori in the United States. We will take it the the Superior Court Clerk on Monday to start the processing which can take about 90 days. This needs to be done in order for her to get a US birth certificate and officially change her name to Victoria Nguyen Nagowski. Nguyen was chosen as her middle name to honor the province she came from, called Thai Nguyen. Her Vietnamese name is Ngot Thi Nguyen.

More Firsts

First Thanksgiving

First Tree Lighting Ceremony at Dad's Hospital

First Christmas lights

Kicking the dog out of her bed